And Then There Was One
by Craic agus Ceol
Summary: He'd lost everything, but he sure as hell won't let it break him. Oneshot, offscreen major character death.


A/n-So, I'm actually back and writing again! Woo! Alrighty then, not only is this my first Supernatural fic, it's my first fic in the TV catagory. As you can imagine, I'm sort of nervous about it. This is considerably darker than anything else I've ever written, but I felt I needed to get my opinion out there. This story is how I imagine the end of the series (SERIES) finale to go, though hopefully there'll be a lot more seasons before we have to worry about that! Also, considering the fact that it's my first Supernatural fic, go easy on the angry reviews. Please?

Disclaimer-I wish I owned anything Supernatural affiliated, but I don't. Except for season 1 on DVD and some random pictures of the sexy Winchester boys.

Acknowledgements-My lurvly beta, Rhiannon Aurorafai! If it weren't for you, this probably would've been stuck in the bowels of the "Stories" file on my computer! Loves ya, chica!

Spoilers-Lessee...Pilot, IMTOD, and Heart, with minor ones for Bloody Mary and The Benders. That's it, I swear!

* * *

A soft wind whispered through the small, unobtrusive graveyard, licking the hair of the sole living occupant. His name was Sam Winchester, and he was alone. 

Of course, it hadn't always been that way. Once he'd lived in Lawrence, Kansas, with his mother, father, and brother. But when Sam was six months old, a demon had taken his mother away. Sam's eyes scrolled over her grave marker; there was no body six feet under the grass here. An empty casket had been buried, for "closure" or whatever. There had been no closure there; John fanatically hunted down the demon for almost 23 years, practically neglecting his boys and leaving Sam to be raised by his brother, Dean.

John's grave was next. Sam and John had fought like cats and dogs. Sam didn't like the hunting lifestyle that John had set up for him. The greatest rift in the Winchester family had occurred when Sam had left for college. He didn't hear from John or Dean for his four years of attendance there. Then, out of the blue, Dean had showed up saying that John was missing, and the two of them had started a wild-goose chase after their errant father.

The demon returned. Not for any Winchester, though. This time it attacked Sam's girlfriend, Jessica. God, the months after that had been some of the worst in Sam's life. He had _known _something would happen, thanks to his physic abilities. And yet, he didn't warn her. Dean had said that, even if Sam had said something, it probably wouldn't have prevented Jess' death. Like with Mary's death, there had been no body recovered. Another empty casket.

Any friends that Sam had built up in his life weren't to be found in this graveyard, but they might as well have been. He had no friends; he had been forced to abandon them as they constantly moved when he was a child and when he left Stanford. He'd tried to make some connections through hunting with Dean, but hunters were practically solitary, almost as a rule. He sort of considered Bobby, Ellen, Ash, and Jo as friends (though Jo had plenty of reasons to keep away from the Winchesters now), but everyone he tried to connect with ended up hurt. Especially Madison. Sam hadn't been able to save her. Instead, he'd held the gun that shot her in the heart. Just because Madison had been his first mercy killing didn't mean he had to feel merciful. Her grave was probably somewhere in San Francisco.

Finally, Dean. Dean had practically raised him when they were children, as John obsessively hunted every supernatural son-of-a-bitch he could find. Dean was the most loyal, selfless, and protective person Sam knew, despite occasionally acting like a chauvinist pig. Dean had loved the Impala like a member of the family, but had loved his family more. Dean had always drawn the short straw; he was the one that nearly died at least three times, he had always mediated during Sam and John's fighting, he had been told that he would have to "save" Sam…God, Dean had saved Sam _every day. _He'd drawn Sam back from the brink when Jess had died, he'd rescued Sam from Bloody Mary, he found Sam when Sam had been kidnapped by the Benders…there were more instances, but Sam found himself not wanting to recount them.

How ironic that, like everything else in Sam's life, Dean would be taken by the demon? The only way to kill the being had been to complete a spell involving a human sacrifice; of course Dean would defy Sam and offer himself. Of course the demon would take Dean over Sam. There had been no last words spoken, just a cocky, shit-eating smile and green eyes that said "I love you". And Dean was gone.

Sam sighed, turning away from the final grave, Dean's grave. Another empty coffin. Dean had died to give Sam a chance to live the "picket fence, apple pie" life. Dean gave Sam the chance at normalcy, something Sam had wanted his entire life.

Yeah, Sam had lost everything. But Sam was stronger than he looked. He hadn't survived the demon attacks, the hunting lessons, and his previous losses just to be pulled apart now. Dean had taught him everything, including how to go on in life. As Sam walked out of the graveyard to Dean's…_his_ Impala, Sam knew he had a new lease on life, a lease that Dean had given him.

He'd lost everything, but he sure as hell won't let it break him.

**Finis  
**


End file.
